How Pitchers Can Take Advantage Of 2 Simple Pitching Strategies

When the umpire says “Play Ball” it’s a war out there on the baseball field.

You know that every advantage counts.

The good news for baseball pitchers is they’ve already got a huge advantage – they got the only high ground on the field. However, more times than not, pitchers squander that advantage.

For starters, many baseball pitchers show a natural tendency to crouch on their post leg while in the balance phase of their delivery – or immediately after as they begin their forward movement towards the plate to deliver a pitch.

That mechanical flaw instantly causes pitchers to lose the leverage and the advantage that pitching off of a 10-inch mound provides. When pitchers crouch through the balance phase, pitches enter the strike zone flatter and meatier – both attributes that make it easier for a hitter to put some wood on the ball.

A simple fix is to simply stay tall. In the balance phase of the pitching delivery, a pitcher should enter the balance position with a slight bend in his post leg (definitely not locked out, but a 5% bend is OK). This will enable the pitcher to comfortably transfer his weight from his back leg to his lead, plant foot upon delivery of the pitched baseball without losing leverage -- or the advantage.

Secondly, I’m seeing more and more pitchers give up the inside part of the plate and pitching middle to middle-out. And I’ve heard the reasoning: It’s safe out there; No chance of hitting the batter with a pitched ball.

That’s not good sense.

At the higher levels (and really, all levels) of the game, whoever controls the inside part of the plate controls the game. Period. It’s the same for hitters as it is for pitchers. It's the hitter's responsibility to move on pitches that are a little too inside. It's a pitcher's responsibility to get it in there and do just that: move hitters off of the plate.

THAT is where the “war” I’m talking about takes place every pitch, every at-bat. The pitcher’s already got the high ground… now who’s going to control the inner-half of the plate?

Pitching inside does three things: 1) it forces hitters to shorten their extension and ability to cover the entire plate (a bat is only so long), 2) it keeps hitters honest and prevents good hitters from cheating to the outside part of the plate, and 3) it’s a good way to promote jam-sandwiches and ground ball outs.

Here’s my point.

Stay tall. Pitch inside.

Now pitchers certainly shouldn’t pitch inside on every pitch. But just enough establish the inside part of the plate throughout the game so that hitters don’t cheat. That’s how pitchers can win the battle.

Steven Ellis
The Complete Pitcher™
www.thecompletepitcher.com
www.thecompletepitcher.blogs.com